Wordless Wednesday Photo

While Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France is most known for its graves of the rich and famous, the graves of the beloved unknown by far outnumber the famous dozens.  While there last September, I spotted this heartfelt monument: Pierre Gareau died 30 August 1815, age 49, leaving a widow and six children.  This truly [...]

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A Bavarian Hometown

My Bavarian great-grandparents’ hometown was Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, just north of Munich. Only my great-grandmother, Maria Echerer Bergmeister, was born in the town and her family had lived there for centuries. My great-grandfather, Joseph Bergmeister, was born nearby and went there to work for his uncle. Pfaffenhofen was the site of the couple’s wedding [...]

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Żyrardów: Birth of a Modern Town

My immigrant ancestors came from many different places. Some came from large capital cities that had very old beginnings and long histories (Warsaw, Poland). Other hometowns were not as large as a city, but they were large market towns born in the 1300’s that continue to have vibrant communities today (Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Germany [...]

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Bring Your Inner Child to Work

What Do You Want to Be? “What do you want to be when you grow up?” How many times did you hear that question as a child? It’s a universal conversation starter between adults and children. Why do we “grown-ups” ask it? Maybe we miss that sense of possibility. We grow up, get older, find [...]

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The Carnival has Come to Town

My readers probably know this by now, but just in case… The 46th Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! This edition focuses on Family Traits, and the submissions cover a wide variety of traits – physical or personality, good or bad. Stop by for some great reading. I wasn’t sure how to make the subject [...]

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Is that a poem in your pocket?

Tomorrow is “Poem in Your Pocket Day” and Lisa has challenged bloggers to post their favorite poems. Here we go again…you know how hard it is for me to choose a favorite. I thought about using a Polish poet in honor of my Polish ancestors. One great Polish poet is the Nobel-prize winning Czesław Miłosz [...]

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National Library Week: A Tribute

This week is National Library Week, and librarian-blogger Lori Thornton of Smoky Mountain Family Historian has challenged bloggers to write a tribute this week.  But I can’t decide among my favorites – libraries were always important to me because I love books.  Here are some of my “favorite” libraries, whether legendary, fictional, or very real: [...]

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All in the Family

“You look just like your mother.” I heard this frequently growing up, and it wasn’t too hard to believe given that we both wore glasses and had similar hair color. And we’re both attractive (hey, I didn’t inherit modesty…) But then someone else would comment, “Oh, you look so much like your father.” Hmm… which [...]

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Donna’s Picks: Week of April 6, 2008

Here are some posts that I really enjoyed this week from blogs about genealogy, writing, and blogging.  Pay a visit to the site if the topic sounds interesting to you, too! Daily Writing Tips advises writers about “Five Words You Can Cut.” Perhaps it’s just that my writing is really quite as bad as that?  [...]

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Hats Off

I decided to throw my hat in the ring with a semi-wordless Wednesday post…  While this doesn’t quite qualify for the Ministry of Silly Hats, it’s yet another example of changing fashion trends over the years.  It is also a nice contrast to my previous post that also had a wedding photo taken approximately thirty [...]

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Happy 52nd Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to My Parents! James and Anita Pointkouski Married April 7, 1956

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Donna’s Picks, Week of March 30, 2008

Well, it’s been a slow blogging week for me and I’m afraid that April will be a bit “light” on interesting and informative posts here at What’s Past is Prologue.  I’ve been sick with two different illnesses, I have two writing deadlines hanging over my head, and I’m due to leave for a genealogy conference [...]

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